Particle-phase concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air of rural residential areas in southern Germany

Abstract

An important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in residential areas, particularly in the winter season, is the burning process when wood is used for domestic heating. The target of this study was to investigate the particle-phase PAH composition of ambient samples in order to assess the influence of wood combustion on air quality in residential areas. PM10 samples (particulate matter <10 μm) were collected during two winter seasons at two rural residential areas near Stuttgart in Germany. Samples were extracted using toluene in an ultrasonic bath and subsequently analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Twenty-one PAH compounds were detected and quantified. The PAH fingerprints of different wood combustion emissions were found in significant amounts in ambient samples and high correlations between total PAHs and other wood smoke tracers were found, indicating the dominant influence of wood combustion on air quality in residential areas. Carcinogenic PAHs were detected in high concentrations and contributed 49% of the total PAHs in the ambient air. To assess the health risk, we investigated the exposure profile of individual PAHs. The findings suggest that attention should be focused on using the best combustion technology available to reduce emissions from wood-fired heating during the winter in residential areas.

Seasonal trends and spatial variations of PM10-bounded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Veneto Region, Northeast Italy

“…Similar contributions of BaP were found in other studies (e.g. Boström et al, 2002;Bari et al, 2010), confirming that BaP is a suitable indicator of carcinogenic potency of PAHs mixtures in ambient air. A comparison with BaP TEQ levels reported in other studies is difficult because of different analytical methods and TEFs used.…”

“…Junninen et al, 2009;Sheesley et al, 2009;Bari et al, 2010;Poulain et al, 2011;Reche et al, 2012). As for the Northern Italy, van Drooge and Perez Ballesta (2009) estimated that wood burning can contribute from 30 to 70% of the PAHs in PM 10 in semirural sites of Po Valley, whereas Belis et al (2011) estimated that it may contribute with more than 75% of the BaP in the central Po Valley and near alpine valleys during winter.…”

Carcinogenic and mutagenic risk associated to airborne particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: A source apportionment

“…pulmonary diseases (DeMarini et al, 2004), they are not uniformly related to cancer (Zeiger, 2001). Many studies have attempted to estimate the carcinogenic potency of PAHs (Bari et al, 2010;Delgado-Saborit et al, 2011;Jia et al, 2011), but less attention was given to mutagenicity.…”

Safety considerations for Health care Workers involved in Cytoreductive Surgery and Perioperative chemotherapy

“…benzo[a]pyrene [21,22]. Some of these compounds are also found in cigarette smoke, smoked fish and meat, traffic exhaust and wood burning all of which have carcinogenic potential [23][24][25][26][27][28]. The mutagenic potential smoke generated from electrocoagulation of one gram of tissue is equivalent to that produced by smoking six cigarettes [29].…”